If you made it here, I’m guessing it is because you are a friend, or someone who was intrigued by the name Decoding Draupadi. Regardless, thank you! And hello. 

Consider this (long-ish) blog post a note about who we are, where we want to be (our masterplan, if I may), and how we plan on getting there. 

If I may, there’s also an invitation for those this resonates with. 

What are we doing?

DD is the brainchild of Chandni, Anshika, and Pooja. I (Chandni) was an armchair activist until I had people validate my thought, and enable me to turn it into some concrete. The shape DD has taken today is a result of collective efforts, ideas, and energies.

What are we here to do?

To eliminate biases. 

To de-alienate women’s issues. 

To have more women wave at the world from the other side of the glass ceiling. 

There’s more, but you get us, I hope. 

As we read this over and over again, we realise that it’s a large, even somewhat vague statement. And so, in the past year, we’ve worked hard to translate this into tangible efforts. To lead conversations, design services, and build communities that take us closer to this vision. If not today, then in 3 months, 5 years, 20 years. 

After all, we’re here to create (tangible) impact. 

How do we do this? 

The short answer is – by showing up to our virtual offices and shooting arrows in the dark. 

The long answer is more well-defined. Here goes –

By leading cultural conversations

We believe that women’s issues are not unsolvable or alien. They’re simply concealed, and not talked about enough. 

In the past year, we’ve attempted to lead conversations in various spaces (like petty patriarchal behaviours among other things), and organised focused townhalls. 

Translating this into tangible efforts, we…

• We’ve worked with 12 female artists to design and launch a calendar that captured various definitions of women empowerment. 
• We’re releasing an anthology of women’s stories themed, women and their many lives. Read more here. 
• Coming soon: A coffee-table book and podcast that is themed Personal Space. It will spotlight the beauty of these moments women steal away from the pressures of hyper-active living. And how women define personal space and how they carve it out for themselves. 
  
  

By building communities

Regardless of the era we exist in, we, as women, have always managed to find others like us. It’s sisterhood. Camaraderie. It’s how we function. And so, one of our approaches at DD is to create opportunities and spaces for women to come together, grow, and become better individuals together. 

Currently, we have an active WhatsApp community of female freelancers. It’s a closed group where we share freelance opportunities in the creative fields and meet twice a month for learning parties hosted by the members.
 

By building services

As women building for fellow women, we want to set up platforms and create initiatives that enable women to soar high, whether it’s in professional spaces or personal. Currently, we’re working on diverse solutions in business.

Draupadi on the Dais: Draupadi on the Dais is a network of women leaders and experts, solving for findability. The goal is to make panels and conferences diverse, inclusive, and truly representative by helping organisations easily invite women to leadership events. 

Show, Don’t Tell: Show, Don’t Tell is an initiative to restock the web by building a library of stock images featuring brown women. If you’re curious about why this is the need of the hour, read this.

Marketing Consultancy: We are also committed to amplifying the voices of women in business. We work with marketers, designers, and strategists to execute marketing campaigns that speak to the needs of women. 

The invitation

We’re a small, bootstrapped team with big dreams and lofty goals. At this stage, we have each project’s success defined. We also know how to get there. And if we were to list out the ingredients needed, one of the most important ones would be people. Driven, ambitious folks who subscribe to this mission and have a similar itch to scratch. And when you join us, you enable us to take these projects to success. And take us closer to this vision. 

With you, in 20 years, DD would cease to exist. 

So, are you with us?